Abbreviated Shadow Isles lore and questions

DHNinja··3 votes·1,133 views

With the Harrowing coming around it appears that EliseEvelynnHecarimKarthusMaokaiMordekaiserThreshYorick are getting the Shuriman treatment with these abbreviated lores. While I personally still feel that this is an awful approach, especially considering how well Shurima was handled with this and the lack of a follow up with some needless tie ins, I am very curious as to what we can expect from their full biographies. As far as I could tell, no other Champions were tied in than those directly related to the isles.

I did have some questions. When can we expect a follow up? Is a new write up going to replace the previous lores? How is this going to effect the previous world building with the Harrowing? What can we actually be told about any of this?

** Elise**

Elise's entrancing beauty and grace conceal the pitiless, black heart of a deadly predator. With ruthless cunning, she lures the unsuspecting with promises of favor from the spider god. Having exchanged her humanity to become something far more sinister, Elise sacrifices the innocent to maintain her power and seemingly eternal youth. No one can fathom how many have been caught in her web, slain to feed her insatiable hunger.

Evelynn

Swift and lethal, Evelynn is one of the most deadly - and expensive - assassins in all of Runeterra. Able to merge with the shadows at will, she patiently stalks her prey, waiting for the right moment to strike. While Evelynn is clearly not entirely human, and her heritage remains unclear, it is believed that she hails from the Shadow Isles - though her link with that tortured realm remains shrouded in mystery.

Hecarim

Hecarim is a towering, armored specter whose name is whispered fearfully across the length and breadth of Runeterra. He patrols the Shadow Isles, running down anyone foolish enough to set foot upon its cursed soil. As the vanguard of undeath, Hecarim rides forth from the Black Mist, laughing mockingly as he tramples the living beneath his iron-shod hooves.

Karthus

Karthus is a harbinger of oblivion, zealously devoted to the beauty and clarity of death. Even in his youth, he was utterly obsessed with mortality, growing ever more relentless in the pursuit of his dark desires. Yearning to be one with death itself, Karthus journeyed to the Shadow Isles and willingly offered himself to undeath. Karthus transformed into the Deathsinger, a dread lich existing solely to deliver the blessed gift of annihilation.

Maokai

Maokai was bound to a gnarled tree by the dark magic that transformed the Shadow Isles. The once-peaceful nature spirit is now a corruption of his former self. Infused with power that he never asked for, he has become a destructive force, sundering his enemies with wild magic and crushing limbs. Maokai continues to wander Valoran, seeking the means to bring life back to his forest home.

Mordekaiser

The vicious wraith Mordekaiser is among the most terrifying and hateful of spirits that haunt the Shadow Isles. Entombed in ancient armor, the Master of Metal is said to be the first of the unliving, a revenant who existed even before the Shadow Isles were wrought. His twisted soul thrives on his own suffering, as well as the anguish he inflicts upon others. Those who dare face Mordekaiser in battle risk a horrific curse: he enslaves his victims' souls to become instruments of destruction.

Thresh

Thresh is a sadistic, spectral reaper who relishes tormenting the living and the dead. Once a jailer who mercilessly brutalized all under his charge, Thresh was hanged from his own chains by the prisoners he had tortured. With his vicious essence unbound, the Chain Warden roams Runeterra in search of prey. He derives twisted joy from slowly breaking the minds of his most defiant victims, before trapping their souls within the sickly green light of his lantern.

Yorick

A terrifying and tragic figure, Yorick is a ghoulish being that exists on the edge of mortality. Some say he was the last of his family line, dying without an heir to continue its legacy, and that he is cursed to continue to his family's duty even after death. Wielding the twisted shovel he bore in life, he continues his macabre work, endlessly digging and filling graves upon the haunted Shadow Isles.

Source: http://www.surrenderat20.net/2014/10/108-pbe-update.html#more

9 Comments

Ark Angel HFB4 votes

Is no one going to talk about the massive change to Maokai!!!

Now he was a spirit all along.

This is a massive change to character origin. Do you guys really think they will keep his character intact?

Maokai never wanted to bring life BACK to his forest... he wanted to return to being a normal tree. This is a complete character assassination!!!

People WAKE UP.

I was in the Role Play event held by Riot that brought Maokai into the league... this is a complete departure from his original character!!!

Sneak Dog1 votes

Could you clarify a bit? I think it looks quite similar except for two things:

  • He is a nature spirit now rather than a tree come to life
  • He now wants to restore himself and his entire forest instead of only himself

Isn't this still entirely in the spirit of his old character?

Ark Angel HFB5 votes

Could you clarify a bit? I think it looks quite similar except for two things:

  • He is a nature spirit now rather than a tree come to life
  • He now wants to restore himself and his entire forest instead of only himself

Isn't this still entirely in the spirit of his old character?

No not really.

Him being a tree means that he was alwasy used to being in one place and well... being a tree.

Nature spirit is a whole other ill defined thing... If it was a thinking reasoning thing then it even more undermines the current Moakai.

See his old lore he HATES that he is alive, he has tried to kill himself and he can't even do that. The magic that brought him to life is so twisted he can't even kill himself to find peace. "I would end this burden, but it always returns."

Further more the most central thing about the character, the fact that he is a walking warning against wild magics is gone, or down played to the point that it might as well not be there.

Old Maokai didn't want to really restore himself so much as end the act of living as a thinking creature.

New Maokai is literal a spirit trapped in something... It could have been a tire... or a rock... and oh god I think I know what they are going to do to maplhite. T_T

Sneak Dog2 votes

Now that's a great explanation of what went wrong. His hating to be alive is indeed a great part of his character. Especially since he can't even stop this curse. It is probably possible to implement this with Maokai as a spirit (would also make the curse that keeps returning make more sense, couldn't he burn himself as a tree?), but the current short bio says he was once-peaceful, implying he was quite sentient before his corruption. He'd be more eager to just return to his uncorrupted state rather than a mindless state.

I'm not sure replacing the hatred towards wild magic with a hatred to something else (whatever made him this way) is going to affect his character though. It tells something about the world rather than Maokai.

Siachi2 votes

I kind of want to say that their current bios are still going to be used, just that the shorter ones are going to follow their new decision of 'Short stories in-client, longer stories on the wbeste' that they're appariently trying to do.

Sharjo1 votes

This is the most likely thing. It may seem doubtful, considering we don't have those longer pieces for the Shuriman cast, tech issues be damned, but what you've said is extremely likely to happen.

Almost makes me wonder if they're going to be doing these in batches now, considering this is for the new client as it gets updated, and more updates will come for that soon I imagine.

DHNinja1 votes

Slight update to the post. Added the biographies themselves and the source so people can read it.

GenoXx1 votes

........ The Shadow Isle is getting updated..... nice And why is eve still a mystery.

GreenLore2 votes

because her VU is still far from finished.

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